


Plan C

by crescent_gaia



Series: Strange Bedfellows [3]
Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Building to a bigger work, M/M, but yet going into AU, spoilers and speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-23 22:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1582532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crescent_gaia/pseuds/crescent_gaia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was Plan A, where everyone ran; Plan B, where Reddington gave himself up; and Plan C, of Ressler's own creation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plan C

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Big spoilers for Berlin, so watch that first and then read this.
> 
> The tag of "building up to a bigger work" is true. I have a mix from bigbang_mixup that is going to around 10,000 words and in this series. It's not the next one - we have to deal with the season finale first - but it'll be posted sometime over the summer and before season 2. I really hope you're enjoying the series so far and, with a new rounds_of_kink round coming up soon, we'll have some fun with that too. ;)

Ressler looked up from his paperwork as he heard the phone ring and looked to the phone on the desk. He raised an eyebrow as there was no blinking light for him and reached for his normal cell phone. When that failed, he opened his briefcase and pulled out the phone that Red gave him at the beginning of the week. “Ressler,” he replied, scanning the area to make sure that nobody saw him. He nodded to Liz who came in and quickly closed the door behind her. He motioned for her to sit. “Red?” he asked, noticing the silence was getting long.

“Donald, I need you activate the burn protocol,” Red said. “And then go dark. I’ll have Dembe find you when it’s over.”

“I’m not going dark,” Ressler said. “For one, it’ll draw attention.”

“Which is why you burn everything first,” Red said. “But you’re still going to complain, so let’s go to plan B. Is Lizzy there?”

Ressler flicked his eyes over to Liz before turning his attention back to the phone. “Yes.”

“She’s going to tell you that a plan she put into motion has gone south. Tell her to still meet with me but get me to leave. I’m going to let myself be taken, again, because it’ll put me in protective custody. It’ll be down in a hole, but I’ll be safe and so will you and Lizzy because you’ll be under the protection of Harold,” Red said. “You still need to burn everything, along with the apartment. I know you liked the place.”

“I’ll get it done,” Ressler said. “I also don’t like plan B but I’ll do it. You’ve gotten out of worse.”

“I have,” Red said and there was a pause. “I love you. Tell Lizzy I love her too, even if she hates me for what I did.”

“I feel the same. And I’ll tell her,” Ressler said and heard the click of the other line. “He wants you to meet him. He’s not going to run.”

“Shit,” Liz said. “Why?”

“To keep us all safe,” Ressler said. “I have my own assignment and we’ll leave together. I’ll drop you off and then go. You have the cell phone from the beginning of the week? And Liz... if you can get him to run, you need to do that. You're the only one can.”

“Yeah,” Liz replied. “Just communicate with that now?”

“Good – just with that now,” Ressler said. “He said that he loves you, even if you hate him.”

“I hate the fact that he’s acting like it was the right damned thing to do,” Liz said. “And that he’s smug.”

“He’s been smug nearly all his life, I think,” Ressler said. He closed the briefcase, slipping the phone into the pocket opposite his work phone. “Shall we?” He was about to follow Liz out when the desk on the phone rang. He sighed. “I’ll catch up.” He picked up the phone. “Ressler.”

“Agent Ressler, this is Amanda Wilkes at New York Penn Station,” she said. “We were supposed to contact you if someone fitting the description of a Tom Keen got a ticket.”

“Hold on,” he said, moving the phone away from his mouth before he called for Liz. He waited until she was back, letting her close the door and put it on speaker. “Tell me what you just said.”

Liz listened as the woman repeated her information. “Was the train stopped? Do you have him?”

“No ma’am,” Amanda replied. “Our security personnel were double checking the tape and saw him. The train had already left the station.”

“What’s the destination on his ticket?” Ressler asked.

“DC,” Amanda said.

Ressler thought about it. “Anything else you can tell us?”

“He was carrying a backpack,” Amanda said. “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything else.”

“It was more than we had, so thank you,” Liz said. 

“Have a good day,” Amanda said and ended the call.

“Plan C time,” Ressler said. “You get Red, I’ll get Tom. After you have Red, contact me. If I have Tom, then we’ll meet at a safe place and beat the every loving crap out of Tom.”

“And if neither of us have the other?” Liz asked.

“Then we go dark and the hell with the FBI,” Ressler said. “I'd bet good money whoever this Berlin is also has eyes and ears about. Only way that it explains how fast this is going. So get Red to come with you and, if he doesn’t, then get yourself out with Dembe. I’ll be waiting for your call.”

Liz nodded. “Who are you going to use on the ground?”

“Station and DC metro,” Ressler said. “We can’t wait any longer.” He and Liz made their way out of the site, taking Ressler’s car like they would any other time they were going out in the field. “Good luck,” he said, letting Liz off at the meeting place with Red. He watched her walk off for a moment before speeding over to Union Station. He was about to make his way over to one of the station police that he saw, but felt a gun in his back first. “Tom.”

“Hello Donald Ressler,” Tom said quietly. “So this is what we are going to do – walk out of the station and calmly get into your car. No sudden movements and you don’t get hurt.”

“You won’t be able to use me against him,” Ressler said.

“That’s cute,” Tom said, motioning for Ressler to move with the gun. “We don’t plan to use you against Reddington, just Liz and the FBI. From what I know, you were just a little side project that could be thrown away at any time. Now move.”

Ressler started his walk out of the station before turning and hitting Tom as hard as he could in the face. The gun scattered away from Tom as he fell to the ground as Tom rolled away towards it. The station police were yelling at both of them with Ressler getting to his knees with his hands up and Tom running away. He sighed and showed his identification, clearing up what happened as his work phone rang. “Ressler.”

“We need you at the airfield. Where are you?” Malik asked.

“Chasing down a lead,” Ressler said. “I’ll be there soon.” He picked himself up and started the drive to the airport, kicking himself mentally for not being able to burn the evidence like Red told him to. The Plan C was slowly turning into a plan clusterfuck, but all he could do was hope that Liz was able to get Red away to safety. As his other cell phone remain silent, that hope continued to fade away.


End file.
